Rimington advance in county cup

Rimington, West Riding Cup winners in 2013, beat West Yorkshire Premier side Knaresborough 5-3 to earn a home tie with Farsley Celtic in the last 16.

The home side started strongly, and the front three of Gary Jackson, Ben Allen and Oli McLean ran the visiting defence ragged in the opening 25 minutes, running in three goals in the process.

They opened the scoring in the eighth minute, Jackson using his strength to hold off the centre half before slotting the ball in to the keeper’s left.

Then great work from Jordan Walmsley saw him beat two players, before lifting the ball over a defender, and Allen calmly lobbed the keeper for 2 -0.

Walmsley, Micky Walsh and John Paul Fagan were running the game, and it was no surprise when the villagers extended their lead after several chances were thwarted by the visiting keeper, Jackson on hand to finish from close range to make it 3-0.

Knaresborough got into the game, the left back in particular looking menacing, and Graeme Kershaw had to save smartly to keep his clean sheet intact. Fagan had a free kick tipped over the bar and Walmsley went close, before Allen fired in Rimington’s fourth goal just before half-time from 20 yards.

Knaresborough came out in determined fashion for the second half, and the home side were knocked out of their stride when Walsh had to be replaced due to injury. Knaresborough threw everything at Rimington and got their rewards when they scored from a corner. It wasn’t long before they pulled another one back from close range, and they should have scored again, a break down the left resulting in a cross to the centre forward six yards out, but he sent the ball wide.

His side suffered inside 60 seconds, the home side attacking with Fagan releasing Jackson, and he beat a defender and the keeper to the ball to roll it into an empty net for 5-2.

Knaresborough kept going and Kershaw had a couple of good saves to make, although he could not prevent them snatching a third, it was too late for them to take the game beyond the 90 minutes, and the villagers progress to face Farsley Celtic on Saturday, kick-off 1-30 p.m.